


You come around and the armor falls

by Donteatthefootcream



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: And they were soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together, I swear I'm in therapy, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Nog is my gay son, Odo comes back, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Post-Canon, Quark is depressed okay, Quark needs a hug, Reunions, Ro Laren is a lesbian y'all, depression lowkey, or maybe I'm projecting, spoilers?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26186509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donteatthefootcream/pseuds/Donteatthefootcream
Summary: Quark has always wondered how everyone has been able to move on from Odo leaving the station. It's weird, did they not care about Odo, or does Quark care too much?
Relationships: Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	You come around and the armor falls

**Author's Note:**

> This got way out of line. It was supposed to be short and to the point. It ended up being 3000+ words of mostly angst oof.

Odo left (everyone left, really), and after a few months every remaining person seemed to forget, including Kira. How could they move on? Odo, the best chief of security this station has ever seen has left. Left to stop the genocide of his own people (ever the hero) and unlikely to return. With Odo gone, Quark was left with a best friend-less Dr. Julian Bashir, a lonely Kira Nerys, a newly fatherless Jake Sisko with a pregnant stepmother, and a "reformed" Ferenginar with his lobeless brother running it. How could anyone cope? How could anyone wake up on this station without feeling some sort of emptiness? 

Maybe, Odo was right. Maybe Quark is dramatic. 

Jake Sisko got a writing deal with the Federation. Kasidy became a great mother. Ezri and Julian were happy together. And Kira? The one Quark expected to share his same feelings found someone else. The new Chief of Security too. 

Quark hated the new Chief of Security. Ro Laren. Every day he'll pass the security office and see her in there, sitting in his seat and feels resentment. It's been _Odo's seat_ for as long as Quark can remember and now someone has taken it. Taken it because the damn organization they work for attempted genocide. He could scream. 

But he doesn't. Instead, he tries to carry on. Watch as every person surrounding him moves on with life as he feels as if he can't. He never should've put his bar on this ugly station, he's always said so. All his friends and enemies are moving up in the world while he runs in place. 

"What are you doing?" Ezri asked one afternoon. 

Quark opened his eyes, disappointed by the lack of Odo's usual entrance. "Do you think he'll ever come back?"

Ezri frowned. "I don't know, Quark."

He hummed, walking away to go make her usual. 

Whenever Quark catches a break at the bar he finds himself closing his eyes, wanting to open them back up again and see Odo's dumb face. Dumb, poorly shaped face. 

He never does. 

"Do you find it disrespectful?" Quark asked Kira. 

She looked at him, puzzled. "What are you on about today, Quark? I just want my raktajino."

"Dating the woman who took his job. The woman who works for the very group that tried to kill him. His people. _Painfully."_

"How dare you!" She shakes her head. As if disappointed in herself. "To think I was starting to tolerate you."

Quark thought about it later. What he had said. Perhaps resenting her and Lieutenant Laren is unfair. They didn't force Odo to leave. But he has no one else to be mad at. Odo isn't here to bicker back and forth with. To share friendly moments with in private.

He feels ever so alone. 

"You're staring at the entrance again," Ezri commented, leaning into his line of sight. 

Quark forced a smile, continuing wiping at the glass. "You know me and my sleep schedule! I am a business man, after all!"

"Quark, it's been years-"

"Don't therapize me in my own establishment."

"-And you're clearly having a hard time coping. I know things have changed, but you've got to stop worrying about the things you can't control. Shit happens, Quark, and we can't do anything about it."

He paused, looking away from her. "What if I could've done things differently?"

She shook her head, sipping at her drink. "There's no point in the 'what if's', Quark. All it does is make you feel sick, doesn't it?"

"I just- I don't understand how the lot of you don't miss him."

"You think we don't miss him?"

"His ex is dating his replacement. Why wouldn't I think that?"

"Of course we miss Odo, Quark. He was family-"

"Jake has never written about him in his writings. Colonel Kira complains about Odo's filing system, how Lieutenant Ro can never find anything. Julian found the cure, but hardly mentions Odo in his tale whenever people ask. The only person who hasn't seemed to forget about him is Rom."

"Do you ever think that maybe not thinking about his absence is a coping skill? I wouldn't call it the best one, it's better to come to terms with it. Kira misses him, Quark. She talks about him fondly, more than her jokingly said complaints. He was her best friend and lover."

"He was my-" He stopped mid sentence. No, Odo wasn't his best friend. They were enemies, right?

She reached out, patting his shoulder lightly. "I know."

Jake Sisko is moving up in the world. He decided he wanted to write about different planets and his experiences there. Nog was quick to let Jake join him on his new ship, something about how he'd love to keep Jake around. Jake was drinking his last root beer (for the time being) in Quark's bar when it hit him that maybe Quark and Odo weren't destined for forever like Jake and Nog. 

"You miss him don't you, Quark?" Jake asked Quark. 

"'Him' isn't very descriptive," Quark deflected, his back facing Jake as he reorganizes the drinks behind the bar. 

"Who else could I be talking about? Odo."

"Why would I miss the heartless changeling?" Quark scoffed, turning back to Jake. "No, my life has been easier with him gone."

Jake stood up, a doubtful smile. "You don't really think that, Quark."

"Does it matter what I think?" _Has it ever?_

"Yeah, I think it does. Especially when it's hurting you." He leaned forward. "Everyone sees the way you look at the entrance, waiting for him to appear, Quark."

Quark glared. "Go and run off with my nephew, Jake."

Jake shrugged, his finished glass abandoned on the counter. It's weird how Quark has come to have so much in common with the empty glass. 

It was a Terran summer when Odo reappeared. Dressed in plain clothes, not his Bajoran security uniform. Quark could tell by the way that he held himself that he had changed. The Odo that left was not the Odo that came back. Yet, Quark could tell it was him anyway. The way he did his small, mocking smile when he approached the counter with his arms crossed. How he scoffed at Quark's look of surprise. How the soft movement of Odo's goo is the same subtle, quiet noise that only Quark can hear. 

"Wasn't expecting to see me, hmm?" Odo asked, smug as always. The way he was before he left. 

"I-" Quark straightened up, faking confidence, "-Expecting it, yes. Looking forward to it? No. Not at all."

Odo rolled his eyes. "I see that even though so much has changed, you still continue to be the conniving, petty thief. Rather disappointing."

_No need to remind me._ "Colonel Kira got a girlfriend."

He harrumphed, a sound that Quark missed far too much. "Good for her. I didn't want her to be alone on this station, counting down the days until my unlikely return."

"Unlikely, but here you are."

Odo looked at him. "Here I am."

There was a moment of silence. After all these years of Quark hoping, crossing his fingers for Odo to come back, and yet he can't think of anything to say. What could he say? That he missed Odo? That his life has been miserable since their last exchange? That he wanted Odo to return more than he wanted his own moon? No, it'd be too vulnerable. His heart visible and unprotected on his sleeve.

He might be reckless and greedy, but Quark is not _that_ stupid. 

"So what now?" Quark eventually said. 

Odo seemed puzzled, as if he was expecting Quark to say anything else. "Well, I- the Dominion is looking into making me their new representative."

"You're going to be here more often then, I'm assuming?" 

Odo nodded. "Yes."

They stood there, looking at each other and Quark hated it. This wasn't how their reunion was supposed to go. Odo was finally going to have something to say to him, and Quark would listen. But no. They had nothing to say to each other. 

_And the way I see it, you've either got to tell her how you feel or forget about her and move on with your life._

Quark had told Odo that, word for word. He was right too, he knows that. Knows it because he had taken the same initiative himself years before. It's what he did, how he was able to sleep with all the people he did and let Odo leave without little fight. He forgot about Odo and moved on. 

But he didn't really. Nope. He pined and hoped and loved Odo with all his heart. It wasn't Nog or Rom that got him up that frozen mountain. It was saving Odo. 

Perhaps he really is an idiot. 

Odo was staying in his old quarters. Quark knew this because he overheard from Kira. He couldn't hear Odo, the soundproof flooring never being removed after Odo's departure. He could sense him though. He always could. 

He found himself outside Odo's quarters like that night all those years ago, ringing his door until it opened on Odo's command. The quarters weren't a mess and Odo wasn't on the floor disheveled. No, he was Odo. Simply Odo, the new one, but still the Odo he adored. 

"Do you remember the last time I was here?" Quark asked him quietly, walking in. 

Odo looked confused. "How could I forget?"

"Then I'm sure you remember what I told you?"

He was quiet. 

"I was so stupid, Odo. You know that?"

"Quark, what are you going on about?" 

Quark made his way over to a chair, throwing himself into it. "My brother is gone, living a life only I could dream of. Nog is going on a new adventure with Jake. Worf is an ambassador, Ezri and Julian are happy, O'Brien is a professor at Starfleet, and then there's me. Me, Quark, the one who hasn't changed. No moons. No franchise. Not any richer."

"Quark, you aren't making any sense-"

"When Jadzia died, I was heartbroken, you know. She was my best friend, my tongo pal, but I was able to cope. I had Rom... I had you, and then, like that! the both of you were gone. How was I supposed to feel, Odo? Especially when you never meant to say goodbye?"

Odo finally made a move, coming to kneel in front of the Ferengi. "You know how I am with goodbyes."

"Not good enough, Odo."

"There was a lot to be said. So much of it I didn't know how to say it." Odo sighed. "Quark, we played each other's nemesis for over a decade! It- we were friends, but it was hard to break character, Quark. It became easier acting."

Quark looked away. "You said that you didn't want Kira to be alone, counting down the days, but what about me, Odo? All I wanted was for you to walk in like the old days."

"I eventually did, didn't I?"

"And yet, you still had _nothing_ to say to me."

"You didn't either!"

Quark quickly got to his feet, Odo falling back onto his heels. "This was stupid. Coming here."

He quickly moved around Odo's form, retreating like usual. However, Odo grabs his ankle, nearly tripping him. "You chose to forget and move on too, Quark? To never confess your feelings."

He let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. "Like I said, it was stupid coming here."

"What if I told you it wasn't stupid?"

Quark shook his ankle from Odo's grasp, finding the sight of Odo on the floor pathetically amusing. "It wouldn't matter. You'd leave again."

And he's right. Odo leaves a few days afterwards, something about needing to go back to the Great Link. He stops by the bar before, looking for Quark. Odo assures him he'll be back soon and Quark wasn't exactly sure how to take it. Progress possibly? It's the closest thing to a goodbye or "see you later" that Odo has ever given him. 

"Did you guys talk?" Ezri asked, Quark joining her at the table. 

"You could say that," Quark grumbled, refusing to make eye contact. 

"Okay. What'd you talk about?"

"Does it matter, Ezri?"

"I'm not the one to decide that, but if it changed anything I would say it matters."

"I don't think it changed anything. He left again."

She fiddles the handle of her purple mug. "He said goodbye, right? Isn't that different than the last time?"

Quark doesn't respond. He refused to give into Ezri's attempts at therapy. Letting his guard down would end up with loss profits. 

Odo came back after a few weeks, Quark watching Odo and Kira walking down the promenade. He remembered that day where he shared a small bit of his heart with Jake Sisko. _I was there for him. And what did I get out of it? Nothing._

Quark was right. 

It doesn't matter that Kira got together with Ro Laren. Quark was always going to come second. But doesn't he always? His mother. Zek. Odo. Natima. The list could go on and on. 

"Stayed true to your word, I see," Quark greeted, Odo coming to stand before him at the bar. Posture straight, hands clasped behind his back. 

"It was the least I could do. After everything."

"Ah so you're admitting to your selfish, obsessive past? Progress." He rounded the bar with a tray of drinks, looking for an out. 

Odo grabbed onto his arm, ignoring Quark's frustrated protests of the spilled drink on his jacket sleeve. "You act as if your own past behavior was acceptable."

"I might have been a petty criminal, Odo, but I was _never_ a bad friend."

Odo dropped his arm, as if throwing it away from him, and it hurt Quark more than he expected. To feel as if Odo was throwing him away. "Fine, Quark. Fine."

"Thank you." He spat the thank you out like venom, pushing past Odo to carry on. Business and latinum was more important, that's what he grew up listening to after all. 

He believed it would be the end of that conversation, yet Odo followed him. As close as he did all those years ago, pestering him about some contraband or unlicensed products. 

"Quark, I want to make things... okay between us. How about Vic's?"

He handed off the now empty tray to another waiter. Odo just keeps reopening his scars. 

Vic's is the place that brought Kira and Odo together. Quark didn't want to be the replacement of Odo's lost love. Or, the second best. No, he knew he deserved better than that. 

"You've got to be a little bit more creative than that, Odo. I have standards."

"And Vic's doesn't meet your standards?"

"No, it's about self-respect, Odo. I'm not going anywhere with you that you took her to. Don't you understand that?" He waved a hand, laughing shortly. "No, of course you can't. You're Odo, the changeling. Colder than an Andorian winter."

"You know that's not true."

Quark leaned closer to Odo, challenging him. "Prove it then."

Quark was surprised the next time Odo visited the station. Surprised that Odo even wanted to speak with him after the last encounter, but strolls into the bar as if things haven't changed. As if he hadn't left for years, abandoning his friends without even sending a card. Quark wondered how so many of their friends could welcome Odo back with open arms, no resentment or anger towards the changeling. 

"This better be important. It's the dinner rush," Quark grumbled, stopping when Odo stood in front of him. 

"I know you hold resentment towards me for leaving, but I had to save my people-"

Quark held up his hand, stopping him. "I understand stopping genocide, Odo. Been there done that. It's _how_ you left."

"Quark, I'm bad at goodbyes."

He sneered. "You're just a typical cop, Odo. Always coming up with excuses."

He maneuvered around Odo, likes the times Quark can't stop missing. Quark didn't know if he was thrilled or dismayed when Odo didn't follow. When he returned to the bar, frantic to continue making the demand for drinks, Odo is sitting beside Morn. 

"Can't you tell when you're not wanted?" Quark snapped. 

"I thought you should have this, that's all. It's why I came." He slid a wrapped parcel across the narrow counter. The box was suspiciously shaped like a box Garak used to use for Quark's suit jackets. 

"You came to give me a present?" 

"On Ferenginar, giving someone of exquisite substance would be considered a courting proposal, is it not?"

Quark stared at the box. Part of him wanted to respond with _We're not on Ferenginar,_ something Odo said far too many times, but why should he when this was Odo reaching out? Trying to make things up between them that didn't involve the memory of Major Kira? 

Instead, he forced out a response. "Y-yes it is considered a sort of proposal, yes."

The two of them were trying to ignore Morn's watchful gaze, most likely trying to figure out what the _hell_ was going on. Odo smiled, one that Quark had missed, no matter how rare it was from the very beginning. 

"Quark, enemy or friend, I adored you. I still do," Odo confessed quietly, only for Quark's sensitive ears to hear. 

"I'm still incredibly pissed off from when you brushed me off outside the runabout, Odo."

Odo leaned forward, "I am sorry about that, Quark."

"You're _never_ going to hear the end of it."

"All you do is complain and hold grudges, Quark. I know this."

He smirked, propping himself up onto the bar as his other hand came to land on Odo's cheek. "Well, I can do plenty of _other_ things."

Odo scoffed, kissing the Ferengi. 

The dinner rush be damned. 

**Author's Note:**

> Oof I didn't mean to make it that angsty. I'm so sorry, Quark.


End file.
